[wool_gather]

Speaking as someone much much closer to a fan boy than a hate boy (I make my living on Apple's platform), this is...possible, but with a lot of caveats. It's nowhere near the level of control you have on a desktop machine.

- The signing expires every 7 days, meaning re-install once a week. The app just crashes on launch when it expires.

- There's a (low) limit on the total number of apps you can have installed at one time via this method. I believe it's 5.

- The Apple ID you're using to codesign the app has to be signed in on the device to which you're installing. (I may misunderstand this one -- been a while since I've done it and it may have changed somehow -- but I'm pretty sure about it.) The implication here is that to share the app to anyone else, you also have to share your Apple ID.

- You're still beholden to Apple. They can revoke your Apple ID and thus your signing privilege pretty much any time for any reason.

They've restricted this avenue enough that I think it's fair to say it's not functional as more than a teaser, for people just checking out iOS development.

[mrtksn]

Yep, the free accounts are quite restricted. Having a paid developer account makes things much better(I have some app builds installed god knows when that I was too lazy to remove and they are running just fine) but yes, there are restrictions.

I would guess that what Apple wants to prevent is being undercut by another app distribution platform by making unauthorized app installation a pain. It is a choice that brings some advantages and disadvantages.

It is true that Apple might cancel the access to your device but I am find with that as long as Apple is not in a monopoly position. If A day comes and for some reason(like an US embargo?) Apple no longer can serve me, I would just move to the platform that serves me.

There's really nor reason to be paranoid over Apple's grip on the system. I am much more worried about Google cancelling my Gmail account and cutting me off from my digital presence.

[skinnymuch]

I don’t think the Apple ID has to match what you’re signed in to on device. At least when using Impactor. Is the sign in account referring to App Store id or iCloud? I assume App Store.

[wool_gather]

The iCloud one, I thought. Guess I must be misremembering, or it's changed. Thanks.